Best compression product

[Magda Fernandez]

I thought I’d close this thread with my impressions of Cinema Craft Encoder MP: it’s simply remarkable.

I did have to experiment with various settings to figure out the best ones for my video files, but once I did I was floored by the difference in quality. It was well worth the $800 price tag.

Although I did have to upgrade (with trepidation) to Leopard to use CCE MP, I find that the plug-in works reliably with my quad-core MacPro, even though the CCE folks recommend an 8-core.

[Daniel Low]

Thank you very much for reporting back on your findings.

If you were to mark out of 10 the products you have tested so far, how would they rate?

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Please post back saying what solved your problem. It could help others, and saying ‘thanks’ is free!

[Magda Fernandez]

Hi Daniel. I wound up not trying the free trial versions of Bitvice and Episode after all because of time constraints, and decided to go ahead and purchase CCE MP. The fact that CCE MP’s Xstream encoding engine is dynamic and features an up-to 99 multi-pass option sold me (see, Brian Gary’s review in kenstone.net). But I’ll be happy to rate the 3 methods I tried for compressing HD to SD DVD.

The FCP to Compressor’s Best Quality SD attempt produced awful, useless results. Not worth adding to the library of similar opinions already in the COW.

The Holy Grail method that you recommended yielded the best results I had, up to that point, working with FCP and Compressor. Although I saw a considerable improvement in resolution, color, and transitions, it was weakest in compressing motion graphics. But considering it’s free, I think it’s an impressive compression method if you’re on a tight budget.

For me, CCE MP outstrips the above results by far, and that’s only when compressing with 6 passes, averaging 6250 kbps. I don’t plan to try 99 passes, but I do plan to try up to 10 or 12. But even with 6 passes so far, I see noticeable sharpness in the motion graphics, and also improvements in gamma and color.

FYI, I’m viewing all of my SD DVD results on my computer using Apple DVD Player’s “actual” or “normal” mode. If I settle for the DVD Player’s automatic full screen view, even the CCE MP’s quality results fall apart big time.

[Rahul Gandotra]

Hi Charlotte,

I’ve just gone through your postings from two years ago when you were trying to figure out which dvd encoding software to use for your portfolio material. And believe it or not, I find myself in the same position as you trying to figure out how best to go about creating my portfolio dvds.

It seems as if to try Cinema Craft before you buy is still equally difficult as it was two years ago. And so I’m wondering, now that you’ve bought and used the program for a bit under two years, what your impression of the program is. Would you still recommend buying and using the program over Compressor’s in-built engine.

Any advice and feedback would be highly appreciated!

– Rahul